Interim arrangements for recruitment in the Australian Public Service

Background

1. The 2014–15 Budget is expected to lead to a reduction in the average staffing level of the general government sector of 16,500 by 2016–17. To facilitate the implied reduction in the Australian Public Service (APS), at minimal cost, the arrangements for APS recruitment that have been in place since 31 October 2013 will be retained.

2. The Government has agreed to streamline some of the operational aspects of the arrangements, without diminishing their effectiveness in meeting the target.

3. The APS Commissioner's Directions 2013 were modified in November 2013 to require agencies to gain the APS Commissioner's agreement before vacancies are advertised externally as open to all eligible members of the community. Promotions will continue to be available for ongoing APS employees where the vacancy was advertised only to APS employees. The amended Directions will remain in place.

Outline of key elements

4. The key elements of the streamlined interim arrangements for APS recruitment are as follows: 

• The aim of the policy is to minimise the engagement of new staff (ongoing and non-ongoing) from outside the APS, consistent with meeting critical business needs. 
• Before considering any recruitment action, agencies should undertake careful and objective analysis of the job and whether it needs to be filled.
• Priority in staffing decisions is to be given first to displaced APS employees¹, then to other ongoing APS employees.
• Agency heads may advertise vacancies internally, open only to ongoing APS employees, without the prior approval of the APS Commissioner provided the agency head is satisfied that the vacancy is essential to the operations of the agency and there are no suitable employees on the APS Redeployment Registers.
  • Internal advertising will be subject to rigorous compliance checks. Where these checks find that the requirements have not been met in a particular instance the advertisement will be withdrawn until the defect has been remedied. In cases of persistent non-compliance, the APS Commissioner's approval will again be required for all subsequent recruitment activity of that agency.
• Agency heads can only advertise vacancies externally as open to all eligible members of the community:
  • with the prior approval of the APS Commissioner where it can be demonstrated that the job is critical to the operations of the agency; it brings considerable risk if left unfilled; and it is unlikely to be filled from within the APS;     
  • without the prior approval of the APS Commissioner to improve the representation of Indigenous Australians and people with disability within the APS using the affirmative (special) measures provisions provided in the APS Commissioner's Directions 2013, or     
  • with the prior approval of the APS Commissioner, for highly specialist and technical workforces where the possibility of attracting internal candidates is low, up to an agreed cap.   

5. Agencies should ensure that jobs that are considered critical are classified correctly against the appropriate work level standards to assist matching against the APS Redeployment Registers². Agencies should consult the SES and non-SES classification guides on the APS Commission's website for further information:http://www.apsc.gov.au/aps-employment-policy-and-advice/classification.

Process for new vacancies

6. Where new vacancies arise, agencies will follow these steps:

Step 1: Before considering any recruitment action, agencies should undertake careful and objective analysis of the job and whether it needs to be filled.

Step 2: The vacancy is to be filled by displaced staff from within the agency or, if none are suitable, with displaced staff from across the APS via the APS Redeployment Registers.

Step 3: Where the vacancy cannot be filled through the redeployment of displaced staff, agency heads can advertise the vacancy internally on APSjobs (Public Service Gazette) as open only to persons who are ongoing APS employees or ongoing Parliamentary Service employees without seeking the approval of the Commissioner.

To ensure that priority in staffing decisions is given first to displaced APS employees, agencies will be required to document their redeployment efforts, including: 

• evidence of an assessment of displaced employees' work related qualities and the work-related qualities genuinely required to perform the relevant duties³, including for employees on the APS Redeployment Registers; 
• why displaced employees within the agency or on the Registers were unsuitable for the job; and 
• why these employees could not be developed into the job within a reasonable timeframe.

Assessments of displaced non-SES employees must be completed online through the APS Redeployment Register.

Compliance check

The APS Commission will conduct compliance checks on agencies' assessments of employees on the APS Redeployment Registers to ensure that displaced employees are being genuinely considered. The vacancy notice will not be published on APSjobs (Public Service Gazette) where the compliance check indicates that the above requirements have not been adequately met.

In the case of persistent non-compliance, the agency head's authority to advertise internally without the Commissioner's approval will be revoked.

Prior to commencing internal recruitment action agencies must document the following information using the form titled ‘Internal Recruitment Record—Agency Documentation’ http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/interim-recruitment-arrangements: 

• details of the vacancy, including specific numbers if there are multiple vacancies; 
• evidence that it is essential that the vacancy is filled; and 
• impact on the agency and/or on the community if the vacancy remains unfilled.

This information must be certified by the agency head, held by the agency and provided to the APS Commission immediately upon request. If this information is not provided immediately upon request, the vacancy notice will not be published on APSjobs (Public Service Gazette).

Compliance check

Where compliance checks find that the requirements have not been met in a particular instance the advertisement will not be published until the defect has been remedied.

Step 4: Where the vacancy is unable to be filled through the redeployment of displaced staff or with other ongoing APS staff, agency heads may seek the APS Commissioner's approval to advertise vacancies externally as open to all eligible members of the community, where it can be demonstrated that the job is critical to the operations of the agency; it brings considerable risk if left unfilled; there is a direct link with a specific Government priority and/or the jobs are fee-for-service funded; and/or the job is of such a specialist/technical nature and/or is located in an area where it is unlikely to be filled from within the APS.

Agencies are required to document the abovementioned detail using the form titled ‘External Recruitment Request—APSC Documentation’, available at http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/interim-recruitment-arrangements.

7. Subject to the streamlined processes outlined here, the merit principle continues to apply in all other respects for engagements and promotions.

8. A flowchart summarising the streamlined process is available from this website.

Temporary vacancies

9. If a temporary (non-ongoing) vacancy arises, consideration should first be given to the placement of suitable employees in the agency requiring redeployment and to employees on the APS Redeployment Registers.

10. Agency heads can advertise temporary opportunities for movement at level or at a higher level (not promotions) to ongoing APS employees within the agency or the wider APS (including on APSjobs) without the approval of the APS Commissioner. However, consistent with the aforementioned process, the full details must be documented and certified by the agency head using the form titled ‘Internal Recruitment Record—Agency Documentation’. This information must be certified by the agency head, held by the agency and provided to the APS Commission immediately upon request. If this information is not provided immediately upon request, the vacancy notice will not be published on APSjobs (Public Service Gazette).

11. It is important that agencies continue to support mobility across the service, including temporary transfers between agencies for all staff. Decisions not to release an APS or EL employee for an interagency temporary transfer may still be appropriate but under these arrangements should not be made below the Deputy Secretary (SES Band 3) or the nearest equivalent level within the employee's current agency.

12. SES transfers under section 26 can continue. However, in recognition of the important role that SES employees perform, an agency head proposing to offer a SES employee a section 26 transfer, should discuss the proposal with the losing agency prior to making a formal offer.

13. After following the aforementioned process steps, agency heads can choose to advertise temporary vacancies, where it is essential that the vacancy is filled, in APSjobs (Public Service Gazette), as open only to ongoing APS employees without the approval of the APS Commissioner.

14. Agency heads can enter into new non-ongoing engagements or extend existing contracts, where these are considered critical to meeting business demand. Non-ongoing engagements will be monitored by the Commissioner through the APS Employment Database.

15. In accordance with current requirements, where non-ongoing contracts (for a specified term or the duration of a specified task) will be in place for a period exceeding 12 months or where the total period of employment, taking into account any expected extensions, exceeds 12 months, the vacancy must be notified in APSjobs (Public Service Gazette). Agency heads must seek the prior approval of the APS Commissioner to advertise non-ongoing vacancies externally, as open to all eligible members of the community, on the basis that the vacancy is critical to the operations of the agency, using the form titled ‘External Recruitment Request—APSC Documentation’.

16. Consistent with current arrangements, temporary employment registers may be used to engage non-ongoing APS employees for periods that do not exceed 12 months. These registers may be advertised on APSjobs without seeking the APS Commissioner's agreement.

Intermittent and irregular vacancies

17. There may be unique circumstances in which agencies require large-scale recruitment of non-ongoing employees in order to maintain their business capability or to deliver Government priorities. Where an agency has a requirement for a workforce component that includes intermittent and irregular non-ongoing employees, and the APS Redeployment Register is not an appropriate source of staff for that element of the workforce, the agency head should write to the APS Commissioner for endorsement. The agency head should provide a description of the predicted hiring activity (including details of numbers, classifications and roles, location, business need, new or existing) over the coming six months. In such circumstances, arrangements can be made to minimise the compliance costs.

Recruitment of Indigenous Australians and people with disability

18. In order for the APS to continue to foster a diverse workforce that reflects the community it serves, recruitment using affirmative (special) measure provisions to employ Indigenous Australians and people with disability under clauses 2.15, 2.16 and 2.17 (but not 2.17A) of the APS Commissioner's Directions 2013 does not require the approval of the APS Commissioner for external advertising.

19. Where the APS Commissioner has approved external advertising for a vacancy, the RecruitAbility Scheme under clause 2.17A of the APS Commissioner's Directions 2013 continues and is not affected by these arrangements.

Highly specialist and technical workforces

20. To allow more flexible arrangements, agencies with highly specialist and technical workforces that operate on a fee for service basis and/or in locations where the possibility of attracting internal candidates is low, may seek the APS Commissioner's approval to advertise critical specialist and technical jobs externally, up to an agreed cap.

21. Where approval is granted, the APS Commission will monitor the advertising of these vacancies to ensure this cap is not exceeded. Persistent non-compliance will lead to approval being withdrawn.

22. This does not apply to skill sets generally available within the APS.

Graduate and entry-level recruitment programmes

23. A cap on entry-level staff (including Graduate, Trainee, Apprentice and Cadet programmes but excluding Indigenous-specific programmes) has been agreed for the 2014–15 intake. Agency heads were notified of their agency's specific cap by the APS Commissioner on 1 September 2014. This cap cannot be exceeded.

24. In early 2015, agencies will be asked to provide the APS Commissioner with details on their 2014–15 entry-level intake, including: AGS number; classification level; and programme type for each position filled.

Orders of merit

25. Should agency heads wish to use existing orders of merit for subsequent similar vacancies, the same principles will apply. That is, agencies should first exhaust the APS Redeployment Registers, after which the agency head can proceed to fill the vacancy with the next ranked candidate on the order of merit, only if that candidate is internal to the APS. This must not displace any external candidates on the order of merit. Any external appointments from an order of merit require the agreement of the Commissioner.

26. A grouped order of merit may continue to apply for similar, but not identical positions where, because of differences in the duties, the most suitable candidate is an ongoing APS employee. Again, any external appointments from an order of merit require the agreement of the Commissioner.

27. Agency heads do not need to seek the APS Commissioner's approval to use an order of merit to fill the same job where: 

• the order of merit is still valid (that is, it is within 12 months of advertising); 
• the agency received the APS Commissioner's approval to advertise externally to fill the original vacancy; 
• the occupant engaged through the original process is no longer employed by the agency; and 
• there are no suitable employees on the APS Redeployment Registers.

Interagency transfers

28. In keeping with the principle of redeploying displaced employees as a priority, agency heads should first consult the APS Redeployment Registers before considering other staffing options, including an interagency transfer. Transfers under section 26 of the Public Service Act 1999 can continue to occur at the discretion of agencies. Decisions not to release an employee for an interagency temporary transfer may still be appropriate but under these arrangements should not be made below the Deputy Secretary (SES Band 3) or the nearest equivalent level within the employee's current agency.

29. SES transfers under section 26 can continue. However, in recognition of the important role that SES employees perform, an agency head proposing to offer a SES employee a section 26 transfer, should discuss the proposal with the losing agency prior to making a formal offer.

Higher duties

30. The use of higher duties arrangements to fill short term vacancies remains at the discretion of agencies.

Labour Hire

31. These arrangements do not apply to contractors/labour hire, which will be regulated by budget considerations. Consistent with the principles of these arrangements, agencies should not use contractual arrangements where it would be more appropriate to engage staff as APS employees. It is expected that these arrangements would be used sparingly.

Agency websites and recruitment documentation

32. Agencies are required to ensure that material on their websites or attached to vacancy notices is amended to make it clear that, where relevant, an advertised vacancy is open only to APS employees.

See the full article - http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/interim-recruitment-arrangements